Bridge 50, Nr Wootton Wawen, Stratford canal, Sunday12th July
Soon after starting for today, I saw movement behind the offside hedge, it was a young Roe deer stag; he had obviously ticked the ‘No Publicity’ box and made a hasty departure across the field in no time flat. It was lovely to watch him. We approached a lock and saw a heavily renovated lock cottage; Fred Dibnah would have been proud of the chimneys, tall and ornate. In the garden of the next cottage was a strange sight. I think that Mr Weasley had ‘borrowed’ another car from the Muggles and tried to hide it. (For those of you that do not follow the adventures of Harry Potter; there was a Reliant Robin in a tree). I could see a heavy rain shower approaching, so I tied the boat up and waited for the rain to pass over. I had untied the centre rope and was about to do the same to the back one when I heard the engine of an approaching narrowboat.
At least I thought that it was a narrowboat; the speed at which it passed by was so fast that the movement of water against Martlet caused the horizontal Armco barrier bar to pull away from the piling and jammed my mooring chain behind it when the boat had had passed. I will not commit all of my thoughts on this idiot to paper; suffice it to say that I was not impressed with his total lack of consideration for anyone else.
When I had managed to free the chain with the help of a mooring spike and my lump hammer, we carried on, mooring for the day at Bridge 50, before Wootton Wawen.
Later, as we walked to the village we saw the flying boat again: in spite of there being plenty of good moorings close by, it was tied up opposite a winding hole! At least he is a consistent idiot. We walked to the station in order that I could photograph the steam loco on the ‘Shakespeare Express’. I did; it was 4936 Kinlet Hall. Unfortunately it was running tender first, but at least it was a real steam loco doing some work AND it smelt good.
On the way back, we looked at the Church of St. Peter, which is the oldest church in Warwickshire. It was founded in the early eighth century by Aethelric as a missionary church and was built of timber with a thatched roof. This was later replaced with a stone structure of which part has survived with later additions making for interesting examination. Next door is Wootton Hall, a very imposing building; unfortunately it now is home to a mobile home park which for me, takes away some of the grandeur.
2009 Totals: 386 Locks – 667miles – 16 Bus pass uses.
